Japan’s H-IIB heavy-lift rocket arced into the night skies over Tanegashima Island on Friday, carrying into orbit the sixth H-II Transfer Vehicle on a critical supply run to the International Space Station and its six crew members.

Japan’s H-II Transport Vehicle is poised for liftoff from the picturesque Tanegashima Space Center on Friday to begin a four-day link-up with the International Space Station to deliver nearly six metric tons of cargo to the orbiting outpost including a set of six new batteries that will revamp the Station’s power system and replace a dozen aging battery units.

NASA’s RapidScat instrument hosted outside the International Space Station has ended its mission of measuring winds over the world’s oceans after suffering a power failure earlier this year – just before reaching its planned two-year mission duration.

The Cygnus OA-5 cargo craft departed the International Space Station on Monday after a month-long cargo delivery mission, heading off on a one-week free flight to release a series of small satellites and perform the second Spacecraft Fire Experiment ahead of a planned end of mission date on November 27.